Men's Basketball Championship Tuesday – 3/10/20

Tuesday is a big night in college basketball because five automatic bids will be determined tonight.  Here is a quick preview of all five conference championships.

Horizon League – University of Illinois-Chicago (UIC) Flames (16-16) vs Northern Kentucky (NKU) Norse (22-9) – Indiana Farmers Coliseum – Indianapolis, IN – 7 PM EST.

UIC is looking to pull off two upsets in a row after knocking off the top seed Wright State yesterday evening.  Now, the Flames will be going up against the #2 seed Northern Kentucky, which has one of the coolest nicknames in the Norse.  The main match-up will be on the perimeter as UIC’s Tarkus Ferguson is quite possibly the best athlete in the Horizon as he leads the team in points, rebounds, and assists, while NKU has the best perimeter duo in the League with Tyler Sharpe and Jalen Tate.

Northeast Conference (NEC) – St. Francis (PA) Red Flash (22-9) at Robert Morris Colonials (RMU) (19-14) – UPMC Events Center – Moon Township, PA – 7 PM EST.

Both teams ended up tied for first place in the NEC, but Robert Morris won the tiebreaker.  Both teams will be perimeter oriented, so the game will be evenly matched.  The true MVP is the court at RMU.  

Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) – Northeastern Huskies (17-15) vs Hofstra Pride (25-8) – Entertainment and Sports Arena – Washington, DC – 7 PM EST.

I will be channel flipping between all three of these games because these first three games will all be televised at the same time.  Northeastern has already pulled off two upsets in the tournament and are looking to pull off a third against top-seeded Hofstra.  Expect for this game to be close because Hofstra is 2-0 against Northeastern, but they only won each game by two and four points respectively.

Summit League – North Dakota Fighting Hawks (15-17) vs North Dakota State Bison (NDSU) (24-8) – Denny Sanford Premier Center – Sioux Falls, SD – 9 PM EST.

The joy in watching these tournament championships is that teams receive a second chance to turn their season around.  North Dakota is now fighting like their nickname to win the Summit League against the top-seeded Bison, who look to repeat as Summit League champions.  Since North Dakota has moved into the Summit League two years ago, this in-state rivalry has continually increased to tonight’s crescendo.

West Coast Conference – WCC – Gonzaga Bulldogs (30-2) vs St. Mary’s Gaels (26-7) – Orleans Arena – Las Vegas, NV – 9 PM EST.

The best conference championship game of the night has been saved for last with Gonzaga going up against St. Mary’s.  Both teams are already slotted to be in the NCAA Tournament, but pride is on the line tonight.  Gonzaga has defeated St. Mary’s in both games previously this season by double-digits.  However, Gaels PG Jordan Ford has scored 60 points in the WCC Tournament so far.